Introducing kids to gardening
Living the Country Life Radio Program with Betsy Freese
Radio interview source: Melinda Hemmelgarn, registered dietician, W.K. Kellogg Foundation
Our kids have always had to help us with the garden. Mostly with picking strawberries, since that is my main focus. One year I planted radishes. My husband, Bob, sent our son, Warren, who was eight years old at the time, out to pick some radishes for supper. He picked the new strawberry plants I had put in the ground the week before. I guess the "bulb" of the young strawberry plant right under the soil looked like a radish to him. He said he didn't know what a radish was, but I think he knew better. That was 10 years ago and we laugh about it now.
Even if kids pull up your precious plants, an appreciation for where their food comes from will take root. Melinda Hemmelgarn is a registered dietician and says as soon as children can crawl out of the house, get them into the garden.
"Have them just watch you and just follow their natural curiosity," Hemmelgarn says. "If they can dig a hole, they can stick a seed in it and they love to water. And the wonderful thing about children and gardening is, it teaches children that they're part of a larger system, and they love to nurture things. In fact, you'll have to say, 'Now don't water too much!' They're always wanting to go out and take care of that plant."
